When a golfer makes a shot, he or she typically wants the golf ball to travel a certain distance in a certain direction. Unfortunately, when a golfer makes a shot, the ball will sometimes travel in an unintended direction or not travel the desired distance. Existing approaches to correcting for off-center shots or tuning distance have included designing a club's mass distribution to increase moment of inertia or locate a club head center of gravity with specificity. However, these approaches are limited by the other demands on a club head.
To help the ball fly straight, in the intended direction, golf clubs are given large heads with large faces. These golf club heads have a rotational moment of inertia that resists twisting, which helps keep the club head, and thus the golf ball, moving in a straight line. However, an undesirable consequence of increasing the size of the club head and of the face in particular is that it increases air drag as the head moves the air. Increased drag makes it more difficult to swing the club with the desired speed, resulting in a shot that travels a shorter distance than desired. Consequently, large club heads may lead to improved aim at the expense of shot distance and result in even greater frustration for the player.